How Rainbow Six: Siege Puts Tactics Front and Centre

How Rainbow Six: Siege Puts Tactics Front and Centre

3
Lee Abrahams

When you play a game that you suck at, it's sometimes hard to take away any positives. And I must admit, I truly suck at Rainbow Six: Siege. Though it's clear that this is a game for people to play with their friends, as the entire experience hinges on good co-operation and communication and you're never likely to get that in a roomful of strangers.

That being said, Ubisoft's game is still shaping up to be very clever indeed and every round offers such a different experience that it's hard not to get sucked into the tension in a very short amount of time. We played a few rounds of the standard PvP mode, with teams taking it in turns to attack and defend a specific point on the map. Before each round you can choose one of the set characters on offer, or tailor a Recruit option that suits your plans, with a dream team choosing a range of gear that best suits their approach.

Attacking players have a range of explosives, breaching options and offensive gear like riot shields while defenders get a bunch of options to stifle their opponents, such as deployable shield barriers, barbed wire and disruption gadgets. Before a round starts both teams have some time to prepare. For the attackers this is simply a case of sending in drones to scope out the enemy base, mark their positions and find the objective. Whereas defenders can place traps, barricade doors and generally aim to impede and disrupt their opponents as much as possible.

Once that period is over then it’s time to let loose. Attackers can choose multiple angles of approach, breach through doors, walls and ceilings while defenders have to hope that their hastily erected barriers give them enough time to pick off players. It’s super smooth to play but suffers from that age-old issue of most Rainbow Six games: if you die early then it’s a dull wait to the next round. You can use cameras to call out advice to your team, but their scope is limited and essentially you are twiddling your thumbs. It means that against a good team you can suffer a soul crushing defeat pretty quickly without really feeling like you learned anything, making it hard to get any better.

Which is where the new spectator mode comes in. An extra player can join each match and watch the action unfold. They can view a top down grid highlighting player entry points and defences, and see exactly how teams approach each objective. It’s designed so that people can hopefully learn from the best and get to know maps and strategies by watching other teams play, plus it'll certainly make it more interesting to live stream and view matches online as well.

Rainbow Six Siege is a competitive team game first and foremost, though players looking to take down AI can always fall back on the co-op Terrohunt (Terrorist Hunt to you and I) mode, and that's where it’s main strengths and weaknesses both lie. Much like Evolve last year, this is a game that will only be as good as the team you build around you and if you can’t find regular players then it is likely to be a pretty brutal experience. Sure the maps and options are there to make this a superb competitive online game but don’t be too surprised if, after a month or so, you only have hardcore teams left standing.

Still, Rainbow Six: Siege an engrossing experience for as long as you're able to stay alive, and every match is a unique experience capable of making you feel like a tactical genius. There is nothing more satisfying then breaching a wall behind an enemy team and seeing them drop like flies as you flank them. It’s moments like that that put a smile on your face and leave Siege looking like an interesting proposition come October 13th this year.

Comments
3
  • Played the Alpha the other day, it's absolutely awesome! It's so well balanced and requires good team work. Day one buy for me.
  • I keep forgetting I got a code for the alpha (or beta, can't recall which) in September on the PS4. Looking to try it out so I can finally decide on whether or not I should buy it or skip it. I was pumped for it when it was first announced, but ever since, I've lost interest after watching the gameplay videos.
  • I still plan on getting this, just hope I can get some team together on the nights to actually get some fun of it and not end up crying myself to sleep in frustration that comes from playing with randoms LOL Sounds as good as ever! And Evolve released earlier this year, not last....
  • You need to register before being able to post comments

Game navigation